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Rainfall Far Below Average for the Month of May

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ST. LOUIS (AP)– Drought conditions abound around much of Missouri, and lawns and grass are taking a beating.

Hot, dry weather is to blame. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that May in St. Louis typically produces 4.7 inches of rain. This May, the region got 1.7 inches, the 15th driest May in 140 years of record-keeping by the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, the average temperature in St. Louis for the period of March 1 through May 31 was 64.8 degrees, beating the old mark of 61.5 degrees set in 1991.

The result is large swaths of what was soft green grass just a few weeks ago are now splotchy mixes of dirt.